


My Love For You

by ToxikCherrys16



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Avocados at Law, Daddy Issues, Drunken Shenanigans, F/M, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) is a Good Bro, Secret Relationship, Tags Are Hard, Tony has a sister
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-06 04:03:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17338235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxikCherrys16/pseuds/ToxikCherrys16
Summary: Rose Kennedy once said, “Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?” Summary is a WIP. Disclaimer - I DO NOT OWN DAREDEVIL, MARVEL, OR THE AVENGERS.





	1. And So It Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys and gals. I only have this chapter finished so far, and there's not gonna be many chapters, but I just wanna know what everybody thinks of it. It was an idea that wouldn't leave me alone.
> 
> It is a Matt Murdock/OFC story, where my OFC is Tony's younger sister. The name will change by the next chapter, probably, so don't get alarmed or tell me I've made a mistake. There is a method to my madness, and it will be explained. She's was born in February 1987, and for Matt, I'm just using Charlie Cox's birth date, with is December 1982. I also don't know how much time is spent at college to become a Solicitor/Lawyer, so I'm putting it at 3 years, then interning somewhere else.
> 
> Anyway, I won't ramble too much. I wanna see if I can make anymore headway on the next couple chapters. This is an AU, so there won't be any Superheroes, no Battle of New York, Thor and Loki won't be from Asgard, and Steve and Bucky aren't from the 40's.
> 
> Please R&R/comment if you want.
> 
> Face claim is Phoebe Tonkin. To find the image I used and another image for the next chapter, go to my tumblr. - ToxikCherrys16
> 
> T.C
> 
> WARNING! This does contain child abuse. Howard is not a kind man, and for this story to work, he had to be alive. He's very controlling of my OFC. If you find anything else that needs a warning, please let me know.
> 
> ~oOo~

** Chapter 1  **

**And So It Began**

 

 

    Running down the busy streets of New York in the middle of the day was never a good idea because of all the people, but when you’re a Stark and trying to escape from the body guards your father assigned for protection, that’s the only smirk idea that comes to mind. And that’s exactly the thing that Annabelle Stark had decided to do.

    Annabelle, or Belle as she liked to be called, was the youngest child and only daughter of Howard and Maria Stark. A lot of people called her a miracle child, being born almost sixteen years after Tony, but she wasn’t like her brother or parents. Yes, she had the dark hair and eyes that all the Stark’s were known for, but she liked the simple things. She hated going to fancy parties and restaurants, and having to wear designer clothes which she was expected of her. She’d much rather go to a fast food place and wear old, baggy clothes, eating ice cream in front of the TV.

    But what she hated more then any of those things, was the fact that she was never given the choice of what she was allowed to do. Howard was strict, and had nearly all of her life planned out, from the clothes she was allowed to wear, to the college she went to, and what her future career would be. All she wanted to do, was make her own decisions, which is why she’d lost her body guards while they were buying coffee, and currently running through the packed streets of her hometown.

    Everything was going amazingly well, even though Belle knew that they were chasing after her, when she collided with somebody a lot taller then herself when she’d been looking over her shoulder, and the two of them ended up sprawled on the pavement. And without even thinking about it, Annabelle scrambled to her feet; almost dragging the man she’d knocked over into the alley next to them, crouched down behind a dumpster, and put her hand over his mouth.

    They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before they heard the heavy footsteps of the two body guards that had been tasked with her protection, but they both continued down the busy streets. Annabelle breathed a sigh of relief when their footsteps blended back in with the rest of the crowd, and took her hand away from the mans mouth.

    “Sorry.” Annabelle said, standing up and brushing off her jeans, “I… I really don’t know what made me do that. I guess that I couldn’t run the risk of them asking if you’d seen me, and you telling them.”

    “I don’t really see much of anything.” The man told her, and that’s when the young Stark really looked at the man she had dragged into the alley. He looked young, only a couple years older then herself, and he had some dark red lens glasses on, and was carrying a white cane with a red end.

    ‘ _Oh shit!’_ Was the first thing that popped into her head, ' _I basically just kidnapped a blind man in the middle of the New York. I wasn’t meaning to. How do I explain that? Why does my brother get Happy, and I get Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum…_ ’ And it wasn’t until he started laughing , that she realized that she’d said all of that out loud.

    “It’s alright. I realized that you meant no harm when you didn’t do anything to me. I just figured that you were running from somebody, or trying to hide.” He picked himself up off the floor and brushed off the dirt, just like I did, “No harm, no foul. Matt Murdock.”

    “Annabelle. Just Annabelle.” She extended her hand for him to shake, only to mentally kick herself when she remembered that he couldn’t see it as she bought her arm back down to her side. He also didn’t ask about her last name, which relieved her, because people looked at her differently when they found out she was related to the ‘Merchants of Death.’

    Matt chuckled slightly as he sensed what she’d done, but he couldn’t just no say anything about it. He liked the sound of her voice. “You just went to shake my hand, didn’t you?”

    “Yeah.” She replied, nodding her head, “And I just nodded as well. That will take a lot of getting used to.” And even though Matt couldn’t see her smiling, he could feel the tension and anxiety starting to go away as she started to relax, “What do you say we leave this alley and grab a coffee? Consider it an apology for semi-kidnapping you.”

    “Alright, but I have to pick up one of my school books. I have to special order books, so I always get my books later than all the other students, but my roommate, Foggy, reads it to me till my copies come.”

    They started a leisurely walk in the opposite direction to where her bodyguards had gone. Annabelle found that she really liked Matt’s company. He was funny, sweet, kind, and so different from the people that her father made her hang out with.

    He talked about how he’d met his best friend Foggy, how he was a Law student at Columbia, his father – who’d been a boxer – and how he was raised by the church after his dad had died. She, in turn, told him about being a Law student at Harvard, but that she’d rather be studying Mechanical Engineering or Art, her controlling father, how her mother had died of cancer just before the Christmas of 1991, when Annabelle was almost five years old.

    By the time they reached the bookshop and collected Matt’s order, they were laughing at the story of when a drunk Foggy walked into the wrong room, and then pretended he was blind when he saw the almost naked roommates. Annabelle’s laugh wasn’t forced like it was with the people she was made to go out with. It was natural and carefree.

    The jokes and stories continued all the way to Central Park for our coffee and sat on one of the benches. Matt rested his cane next to him, while Annabelle crossed her legs. The last couple of hours had been the best of her life. She hadn’t needed to worry about how she acted, or pretend to be anybody she wasn’t. It was nice to be a normal person for once.

    But, like all good things, it had to come to an end. Annabelle had to get back to the mansion and face the music about her disappearance. Howard would put even more security on her, restrict what she was allowed to do even more then she already was, but just for a few hours of normalcy, it was worth it.

    “Can I have your number?” Matt asked, just as she stood up, and she smiled.

 

**~oOo~**

 

    For the next couple months, they texted quite frequently and talked a couple times a week on the burner phone she’d bought before they parted ways, and met up every time she came back to New York – being careful to slip her bodyguards. Matt made her happy, he didn’t pry into anything she wasn’t comfortable with sharing, and she loved him.

    She got butterflies in her stomach when they talked, her heart beat faster when she was with him, she couldn’t stop smiling when thinking about him, and he was the first person she wanted to tell when something amazing happened. She even bought a brail printer so that she could send him letters.

    In fact, ever since she’d started seeing Matt, people had started to notice that she seemed happier. Howard thought that it was something to do with the job that he had lined up for her, but Annabelle knew better. Matt was hers, and she wasn’t going to tell anybody about him. Not yet, possibly not ever. She knew what would happen if it ever came out that she was friends with somebody her father didn’t approve of. And if he found out that she wanted to date him… Well, she didn’t even want to think about that.

    To be extra sure that nobody would recognize her – she was pretty well known after all – she wore disguises. Wigs of different colours, clothes that were baggy, glasses. Matt thought it strange at first, but now he found it a little funny. Told her she might have a promising career in espionage.

    They had their first kiss four months after they’d first met, and started dating soon after. Matt understood why she couldn’t announce to her family that she was in a relationship, but he told Foggy and his surrogate family. He didn’t give her name, just that he had started dating somebody.

    When they were together, they never did anything more then kiss, cuddle, and hold hands. Neither of them were ready for anything else, and they weren’t going to pressure each other either. They weren’t ready for that step, and they both knew it. For the moment, they were just happy to spend time with each other.

    After the next term started, things became a little hectic. Annabelle had just started her final year, and Matt and Foggy still had another year after this one They didn’t meet up as much, but they still talked, and on more than one occasion, Matt stopped Annabelle from having a complete mental breakdown when her score dropped lower then what she was told she had to get.

    Soon after she started seeing Matt, she decided to take precautions, just incase anything happened. Under her bed, she kept a shoebox with money in it, in her wardrobe was a duffle bag filled with her style of clothes, not the ones Howard had people buy for her, and she was ready to run at a moments notice. She couldn’t take too much at one time, otherwise it might seem suspicious, which she didn’t want. The last thing she needed was her father finding out about this.

    “Sometimes I wish that I could just disappear.” She was laid on her bed, talking to Matt on the phone, “Trying to please everyone is hard. My brother can be on the front pages, drunk and embarrassing the family, but if I so much as order a muffin, or buy a chocolate bar, it’s taken off of me.”

    Annabelle had dropped little bits to do with her family, and Matt had a pretty good guess as to who her family was, but he wasn’t going to say anything. When she was ready to tell him, she would, but until then, he wasn’t going to ask questions or even tell her who he thought they were.

    “Well, you can always come live with me and Foggy.”

    “I might take you up on that offer.” She laughed, looking over at the time, “I’m coming home at the weekend. I took my final exam a couple days ago, so the school said there was no point in being in my dorm when I didn’t have any lessons, so I’m going to be in New York till graduation.”

    “Which means we have to be more careful, I’m guessing.”

    She nodded to herself. “Yeah. Everybody is trying to win Howard’s favour, so they always keep their eyes and ears open for anything that could get them a promotion or a raise.”

    “Well, at the end of the school year, we’ll go away somewhere. Something for our anniversary, cause we’ll have been together over a year by then. How does that sound?”

    “Amazing.” She was smiling at the ceiling, just picturing the two of them somewhere where they didn’t have to worry about her family and security, and spending the weekend having fun, “I can’t wait till we can do that.”

    They kept talking until Annabelle fell asleep. Matt smiled when he realized that she had, but he stayed on the line a little longer, just listening to her soft breathing on the other end. It was relaxing for him to hear, because she was always worrying and stressed. To hear her so peaceful, was one of the best things he could have asked for.

 

 **~oOo~**  

 

    It didn’t take long after coming back home for Howard to be his usual self. He organized a party for her graduating early, but never asked if there was anybody she wanted to invite. Everybody who came worked at Stark Industries, was a business partner, or somebody who Howard had picked to be a potential suitor. All Annabelle wanted to do, was scream, as she listened to one of the ‘chosen’ talk about his expensive car and how much he earned in a month. He must have been closer to forty, even though she had only turned nineteen only a couple months before.

    And she was being forced to talk to all of them, while pictures were taken to put in the tabloid magazines about potential boyfriends. She hated being paraded around like an object instead of a person. It was like she was a stripper or an animal, and people were just paying money to stare at her.

    The more she spent being bored with these people, the more she kept thinking about how much more fun she’d be having with Matt; watching movies with audio description, reading to him, or just being with him. But no matter how bored she was, she had to look like she was enjoying herself. Pretend that she was interested in what was being said.

    When she got the first chance, she slipped out of the room. The only people even close to her age, was her brother, Tony, and his best friend, Rhodey, and they were nearly sixteen years older then her. Nobody was into the things she liked, she wasn’t old enough to drink, and she just felt like she was a piece of meat.

    Annabelle went and sat on her bed. She thought about sitting on the roof, but at least she could lock herself in here. The tears were already rolling down her face by the time she sat down on her bed.

    “ _Are you alright, Miss. Stark?”_ The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, but Annabelle knew that it was J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony’s AI who had been installed in both the New York tower and the mansion in Malibu, “ _You seem to be in distress. Should I call somebody?”_

    “I’m fine, J.” She sniffed, wiping her wet eyes. J.A.R.V.I.S. had always been kind to her, and she considered him her only friend until she met Matt, “I’m just tired and overwhelmed.”

    “ _I feel like that is not the truth, Miss. Stark, which means you don’t want anybody to know what the real problem is._ ” The AI seemed to when somebody was hiding somebody, but Annabelle guessed that after spending so much time with Tony, he knew how to detect it, “ _You know I am here if you need to talk._ ”

    “You’re too smart, J.” She smiled slightly as she started getting ready for bed, “But I know you’re here for me. This is just something I have to do on my own. Don’t want you getting in trouble.”

    “ _Alright, Miss. Stark, but you do realize that I can’t get in trouble?”_

    She laughed as she got into bed, and J.A.R.V.I.S. turned the room lights down; with some of them off entirely. Annabelle didn’t like sleeping in the dark, so the AI always set the lights to a blue colour, and played her favourite movies, even when she fell asleep.

    “Night, J.”

    “ _Goodnight, Miss. Stark._ ” There was silence for a little while as Annabelle got comfortable, “ _Forgive me for saying this, Miss. Stark, but you don’t seem happy, and I do not understand why._ ”

    “I feel like I’m in a cage. I have everything I could ever ask for, but at the same time, I have nothing. How can I be happy when I’m drowning?”

    J.A.R.V.I.S. didn’t say anything as he thought about the question he had been asked, and what she had said. “ _I’m afraid I do not have an answer for you, Miss. Stark, but I believe you are talking about being a bird in a gilded cage._ ”

    “That I am, J.”

 

**~oOo~**

 

    For the next few weeks, every time she saw a magazine, it always had a picture of her and somebody from the party. They literally had nothing better to talk about, but it probably had something to do with somebody who’d been there. She wanted to burn all of them.

    Howard hadn’t been happy that she’d left early, saying that she’d embarrassed him, but she thought that Tony had done that all by himself – when he’d turned up already drunk, smuggled in a couple of models, and almost shagged them over the bar. She almost scoffed at the double standards.

    Luckily, J.A.R.V.I.S. hadn’t said anything to anybody else about their conversation, probably because he knew she’d get into even more trouble for saying it, even if it was just to the AI. Unluckily though, she was finding it harder and harder to sneak away. With her face plastered over nearly every magazine, even wearing a disguise, somebody was going to recognize her. She still tried though. Matt was everything to her, and nothing was going to stop her from seeing him.

    At night, J.A.R.V.I.S. helped her create a new identity, with a birth certificate, bank account, schooling records and everything else she’d need if she had to make a quick get away. He was ready to transfer all the money from her Trust Fund into her new identity at a moments notice, and they even had a code word that would make delete all the new information on her.

    But things started to unravel pretty quickly. Nobody had found out about her and J.A.R.V.I.S.’s late night hacking, but it had been somebody’s lucky shot in the park. A couple had been taking pictures of each other, and they just happened to see her and Matt holding hands and kissing by the fountain. The couple didn’t know who she was, just thought that they made a cute couple, so they took a few pictures of the two of them. And that’s where their problems really hit the fan.

    Somebody who worked at Stark Industries happened to come across the pictures on social media. He wouldn’t have thought twice about the photos had he not been working for the company for nearly fifteen years. There was something about the female that he recognized, so he decided to run her face through their system, and it came up with one name, with a eighty present match to one Annabelle Stark. He went straight to Howard with the pictures.

    And Howard was not impressed with what he saw. Things started falling into place for the older Stark. Why his daughter had been sneaking off, why nobody could find her, why she’d been coming home more during her final year. Howard was furious with what she’d been doing.

    In fact, as soon as Annabelle got in from her date with Matt, her father grabbed her by the arm and pulled her through the house to his office. His grip was tight enough to bruise her wrist, but he didn’t let go, even when she tried to pull away. For a man who was almost ninety, he certainly had a strong grip.

    “You’re hurting me. Let go.”

    Her father didn’t let go though. He kept his tight grip on her arm, and almost shoved her into one of the chairs at his desk. Then he picked up the pictures he’d been given earlier, and spread them out on the desk in front of her. “Care to explain this? Or is this just a complete coincidence?”

    She looked over the photos, and tears filled her eyes. They were from a date last week, and she’d taken off her wig because it was starting to itch. Matt’s cane had been folded up and put in his pocket to stop it from being left. He’d been revising all week, so they’d decided to have a little impromptu date in the park.

    “There’s nothing to say. You’ve obviously seen the pictures, and they speak for themselves.” She was trying to seem a lot more confident then she felt. Inside, she was freaking out, but she wasn’t going to let her father see that.

    “So you’re not even going to deny them?” He slammed his fist down on the desk, “He’s only with you for the money.”

    “He doesn’t even know my last name. And we’ve been together for over a year.”

    You could almost see the steam coming from Howard’s ears as he heard this, and took it all in. He even started to change colour in anger. “I forbid you to see this boy anymore. Next time you see him, you’ll break up with him, and tell him you have found love with somebody else."

    Annabelle stared defiantly up at her father. “No.”

    The sound of his hand slapping her face seemed to echo round the room. It also left an angry red handprint on her cheek, and would probably leave a bruise in the coming days, just as a reminder of what her father was like.

    “You’ll do as I say, or you can leave, and never come back.” He was glaring at her now, “You’ll never be able to use the name Stark again, or get any of the privileges that you get here.”

    She stood up and glared right back at her father. “I’d rather die, then spend another minute in this house. Five minutes, and I’ll be out of your hair, and I hope I’ll never see you. I might just turn up to your funeral to laugh at your rotting corpse, and tell you ‘I won,’ because I’ll have a better life then you could _ever_ give me.”

    As she left his office, she slammed the door behind her; making her way right to her former bedroom. She wanted to write a letter to Tony, explaining why she wasn’t going to be around anymore. While they weren’t close, he was still her brother, and she still cared for him.

    “Transfer the money, J.” She was rubbing her cheek lightly as the stinging lingered, “You know where to send everything. Put a rush on it.”

    “ _Right away, Miss. Stark._ ” The AI knew that this was it, and that things had come to a head, “ _Am I to assume that this is the last time that I will talk to you?”_

    “Yes, J. This will probably be it for us.” Annabelle was wiping the tears from her eyes as she wrote the final goodbye to her brother, “I’m gonna miss you, but no matter what, you have always been my friend. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.”

    “ _It had been an honour knowing you, Miss. Stark._ ”

    When she finished her letter, she placed it on her bed; knowing that it would be found eventually, and she just hoped that it would find its way to her brother. She then grabbed the bags that she’d had packed for months, and made her way to the door.

    “You too, J.” She wiped her eyes again, “Jericho.”

    “ _Will that be all, Miss. Stark?”_

    Annabelle took a deep breath. “That will be all, J.A.R.V.I.S."

 


	2. All I've Ever Needed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys and girls. I'm so sorry this took so long. I've had it finished for about a month, but I wasn't really that happy with the end, and then I was put on new medication that wiped me out and had concerning reactions to it, so I was put on new meds. I've hardly done anything for about 3-4 weeks.
> 
> Anyway, I'm hoping that I'm back to normal so I can start working on my fics. I'm still not entirely happy with the ending, but now that I've looked at it again after a month of leaving it, I like it a bit more then I did.
> 
> This chapter is set between about June 2006 and December 2007. There will be a time jump between this chapter and the next, just to be warned.
> 
> On with the story. Please R&R/comment if you want to.
> 
> T.C
> 
> ~oOo~

** Chapter 2  **

**All I’ve Ever Needed**

 

 

    When Foggy Nelson was getting ready to go out on a date with his girlfriend, he wasn’t expecting to be interrupted by a frantic banging on the door. Matt was out getting a take away, saying that he didn’t need or want to listen to him talking to himself while getting ready. This is why Foggy was alone, with a potentially dangerous situation brewing outside.

    The thought that it might be Matt flashed through his mind, but Foggy had seen him put his keys in his pocket before he left, and he couldn’t think of anybody that lived around them that might be knocking like somebody was trying to kill them. So, with bated breath, Foggy opened the door; prepared for anything that might be waiting outside… Mostly prepared.

    But what he wasn’t expecting, however, was a crying woman, with a suitcase, duffle bag, and a red hand print mark on the left side of her face. Foggy didn’t even think twice before leading her into the apartment, and sitting her down on the couch, and getting her a glass of water. All common sense about leaving a stranger alone went out the window when he saw the state she was in. And she wasn’t a complete stranger.

    He recognized her from the magazines at his girlfriends place and at the supermarket. And then that begged the question, what the hell was somebody like Annabelle Stark doing at the dingy apartment of Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson? She could probably buy their whole building and convert it into some unaffordable, upscale place that only the rich people could think about renting. Or she could turn it into more offices for the company that literally had her name plastered on the side.

    Before he could ask any of those questions though, Matt burst through the still open door; almost tripping over the bags that Foggy had yet to move. In fact, in his haste to get upstairs, Matt had almost dropped his dinner to get up faster.

    “Belle?” Matt was careful as he moved towards where her sobs were coming from. She didn’t seem to acknowledge him until he crouched down in front of her, and placed a hand on her cheek. She almost flinched when his hand touched the mark her father had left, and Matt could feel the heat coming from it, “You’re hurt. Who did it?”

    “It doesn’t matter.” She mumbled, but Matt could still hear her.

    “Lying won’t work, you know that, sweet heart.” He gently ran his thumb over the mark he couldn’t see, “Who did it?”

    Her voice broke when she told him, “Howard.”

    Foggy watched as his best friend almost change colour as his anger began to rise. He’d seen Matt like this, and he doubted that he’d ever see it again. Normally Matt was smiling and laughing.

    “I’ll kill him.” Matt went to stand up, but Annabelle grabbed his arm, stopping him from going out and doing what he wanted to. She knew it would be no good, and he wouldn’t even make it past the reception area of the building.

    “He’s not worth it, Matt. I made my choice, and there’s no going back. He made me choose between my family and you. And I choose you, and I would do so again, because I love you."

    “Well, you can stay here with us.” Foggy spoke up, watching Matt stroke the cheek of his crying girlfriend, “You don’t have to worry about being on your own, cause you have us.”

    Annabelle smiled at that. She’d heard a lot about Foggy, through Matt, and she felt like she already knew the kind of person that he was. She was pleased to see that everything she’d been told was true, having been lied to so many times over the previous nineteen years.

    “Thank you.” She smiled up at him, “Some mail will come through the post for me. I’ve been creating a new identity for myself over the past few months, and put here as the mailing address. Once it comes through, I’ll be able to help with the food and bills and school supplies, if you need them. I could even help with your exams. I’ve already passed the Bar exam, and while I may not want to be a lawyer, I know all the material.”

    “Think you could take the exam for me?” Foggy joked, and Matt turned to face him, raising an eyebrow, “I’m joking about that, of course, but any help I can get is always appreciated.”

    When Annabelle started laughing, Matt gave Foggy a subtle perfect hand sign without his girlfriend seeing it. They didn’t want her to be sad, so they were going to do everything in their power to make sure she would never be sad while living with them.

    “So what’s your new identity going to be?”

    “Abigail. Abigail Sommers.”

 

**~oOo~**

 

    The week seemed to pass quite quickly after Annabelle - now going by Abigail - started living with them. She helped clean up their apartment, made sure food was on the table for when they got back from classes, helped with course work at night, and just made sure that they were looked after in general. Matt loved that she was now living with them, and was relieved that Foggy liked her as well.

    But it was on one of these days, when Abigail was making breakfast for them before they went to classes for that day, that she saw the news. It was just playing in the background, but it was one of the stories that made her drop the plate she was holding, and it smashed on the floor.

    “ _And breaking news, a spokesperson for the Stark family have released a statement, announcing the death of Annabelle the youngest and only daughter of Howard and his late wife, Maria. She was only nineteen years old._ ” The news anchor was saying, “ _The family has asked for privacy in this time of mourning._ ”

    “Well screw you too, Howard.” She shouted at the TV, waving around the spatula she was holding. Matt and Foggy came into the room as her picture appeared, while the news anchor said her name again, and the year she was born and died – 1987 to 2006.

    Foggy helped pick up the pieces of plate that had broken when it hit the floor, while Abigail continued to hurl abuse at her father through the TV. Some of what she was saying was not nice, but neither Matt nor Foggy said anything about it. It was a dick move to announce that your only daughter had died, when you knew full well that she was alive and well. And to do it so publicly made sure that she knew she was no longer welcome to be part of the family.

    “You’ve still got us.” Matt brought her in for a hug when she started to cry, “It doesn’t matter what he says. You don’t need him to have an amazing life, and there’ll be a day when you can stick two fingers up at him and tell him that you won.”

    Both the boys took the day off. They worked on what they could from inside their apartment, while Abigail sketched angrily on a pad of paper and muttered under her breath. Matt found it funny, and he shook his head as she continued to mutter about how she wanted to shove his big head up his arse. Foggy was a little perturbed when he saw that she was drawing her fathers body, with his head cut clean off, but he didn’t say anything.

    For the next few days, the papers and news had her ‘death' splashed all over them. They couldn’t get enough details of how the family felt, the exact cause of death, or what had pushed her to kill herself. She had everything she could ever ask for, but Abigail, Matt and Foggy knew the truth.

    Howard even made a teary appearance on TV, saying he didn’t know why she’d kill herself, and how he’d found the body. Abigail scoffed when she watched it; knowing that everything he was saying was fake, but everybody who saw and heard it believed every word that came out of his mouth. Her father was a fantastic performer, she’d give him that.

    At the end of the following week, her funeral took place. Tony cried as he stood by her coffin, with Rhodey standing beside him. Her father was stoic; crocodile tears in his eyes, but the public still lapped it up, saying how brave they were to continue going after such a tragedy. Abigail just sat on the couch, eating ice cream, and watched as the empty coffin was lowered into the ground.

    When Matt and Foggy got back from classes for that day, they found that Abigail had baked a cake and had bought beer from a local corner shop. If everybody believed her to be dead, then she was going to celebrate her death, and she was going to do it with the people she cared about.

 

**~oOo~**

 

    About a year after Abigail had moved in, the three of them had been out drinking. Matt and Foggy were just about to take their last exams before graduating, and they were celebrating. Foggy had taken Matt’s cane, and was weaving across the walkway, while his best friend was trying to stop Abigail from falling onto the grass on either side and walk in a straight line at the same time.

    “Watch out, everybody! I’m Blind Matt Murdock! Whoa!” Foggy was joking as he almost tripped over. Abigail was laughing hysterically as she almost tripped over her own feet again.

    “Most… Most people just say, ‘Matt Murdock.’” Matt finally had a good grip on his girlfriend, and took Foggy’s elbow in his other hand so that they could all keep together. The last thing they needed was to get separated.

    “I look like most people?”

    “I don’t know, I can’t see you.”

    Abigail continued to laugh, just not as loudly or hysterically as she had been before. “Well, at the moment, that may be a blessing.” She joked, earning a playful glare from her now best friend.

    “Oh, God, we should be studying.” Throwing his head back and groaning.

    Foggy scoffed at the statement. “You’re gonna graduate Summa Cum Laude, you can take a night off, you nerd!"

    “Yup, you’d be…” They all started laughing again, “You’d be graduating with that, too, if you took a few less nights off.” Foggy handed Matt his cane back and started walking backwards.

    “Point being, we are both one day gonna be fine, upstanding members of the legal profession.” He took this time to turn around again, waving his hand in the air, and looking back at Matt and Abigail, “ _El grande_ … How do you say ‘lawyers’ in Spanish?”

    “Lawyers? A… _Abogados_.”

    “ _El grande_ avocados!”

    This statement made all of them start laughing again. “That’s not Spanish, that’s fruit. That’s fruit.” Abigail’s coordination was getting better the more they walked, but she was still weaving slightly.

    “It’s a vegetable at best.”

    “See, that’s what you get for taking Punjabi instead of Spanish with me, just to chase a girl.” Matt used his cane to try and trip Foggy up, which he partially succeeded in doing as he stumbled slightly while trying to deny that he’d only taken the language to get close to the girl, “I’m sorry.”

    “I’ll have you know that Punjabi is the future language of the future…” Foggy defended while Matt and Abigail continued to laugh, “Of business. Couple years, we’ll all be speaking it. And she was so hot. She was so hot!” He put his head on Matt’s shoulder and hugged him.

    Matt threw his arm around his best friends shoulder, while grabbing his girlfriends hand as she started to drift again. “Yeah, say that in Punjabi.”

    Foggy stammered for a few seconds, trying to find the right words before he gave up, which caused Matt to started jumping up and down slightly while he laughed. “God. Shut up! Kiss my ass.”

    “You can’t speak…:

    “No! No, no, no, no. Are you trying to tell me that you didn’t take Spanish to snuggle up to what’s-her-name…” Matt acted confused at the statement, “The Greek girl?”

    “Well, I… Surely I would take Greek.”

    “No, because she was taking Spanish. She already spoke Greek.” Foggy looked at his best friend, “Whatever happened to her? She was smoking’.”

    “She went back home, and she was only ever my friend. I have my girl, right here.” Matt put his arm around Abigail’s shoulder as he said this, "And she also happens to speak Spanish, and I love listening to her voice, which is an important factor. Where are this stairs?”

    It was a silent decision between the three of them to take a little break. They were all too drunk to do much else, and with all the movement, they weren’t sure which direction they were going in. So Foggy pointed out where the stairs were, and they all sat down on the top step.

    “Yes… We sit! And then we forage for hamburgers and more libations!” Foggy fell backwards after he said this, deciding that this would be the best time to lay down.

    “How about just the burgers?”

    “Lightweight.” Foggy sat back up again, and that was a bad thing, “Hey, do you get the spins? Can you get those if you can’t see?”

    Matt thought about it for a few seconds, waiting for Foggy to finish asking the question, and for Abigail to get comfy as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Yeah, I get the spins.”

    “Really?”

    “Yeah, it’s…” He stammered slightly, trying to think of the word he wanted to use, “It’s an equilibrium thing, it’s not your eyes. Liquid in your inner ear get disturbed, has trouble leveling off or something.”

    “Pilots get that. They call it Spatial Disorientation.” Abigail came out with, her eyes still closed as she scooted closer to Matt.

    Foggy looked thoughtful as he took him the information. “Huh. That sucks. I thought you might get a pass on that one.”

    “No, it’s even worse for me, I think. ‘Cause my senses are so strong.”

    “Well that sucks even more.” Foggy chuckled, "Hey, how old were you when you had your first drink?”

    Again, Matt thought about his answer before answering. “Nine.” And Foggy repeated the number back before they all laughed at his reaction, “My dad gave me a sip from this bottle of Scotch. He didn’t want my hands shaking while I stitched him up. He got cut pretty bad over his eye. Boxing match.”

    “He win?”

    “No.” Matt shook his head slightly.

    Abigail patted his arm at the same time as Foggy did. “He’d be proud of you, buddy.”

    “Thanks, man.” And he kissed the top of Abigail’s head, “All he ever wanted was for me to use my head, not my fists. Not like him.”

    “My mom wanted me to be a butcher. I think she liked the idea of free ham.” They laughed.

    “Hey, they coming to graduation? Your family?”

    “The whole extended brood.” Foggy said proudly, “It’s not every day a… Nelson breaks front he ranks of hardware and cured meats.”

    Matt put his other arm round Foggy’s shoulders again. “Franklin Nelson for the defense, Your Honor.”

    “Defense! I like that. There’s money in that.”

    “Oh, come on. Is that all you care about?”

    “No… No. Truth and justice and all of that.” Matt and Abigail looked over at him curiously, both wondering if that was the complete truth, “Couple of bucks?” Foggy smiled, and Matt smiled and shook his head, “Me and you, pal. We’re gonna have big, fancy offices one day, with steel and glass and chairs you don’t even know how to sit in. Murdock and Nelson, attorneys at law!”

    “Nelson and Murdock. Sounds better.”

    “You think?”

    “Yeah, trust me.” Matt took a deep breath, “I can’t see worth shit, but my hearing’s spectacular.”

    Foggy hit Matt’s arm. “Me and you, pal… We’re gonna do this. We’re gonna be the best damn avocados this city has ever seen.” Which set off another round of laughter front he three friends.

    “Best damn avocados."

    “Let’s get the hell out of here, come on.” Foggy stood up first before he helped Matt and an almost asleep Abigail from their spots on the top step. He commented on how he worked out when Matt told him he was strong.

    As they continued their walk back to their apartment – Foggy and Matt practically dragging Abigail along – she decided to speak. “We should get tattoos of avocados, where the stones are wearing suits and ties… And it should say ‘Avocados at Law’ somewhere next to it.”

    “Well, if you do the design, then we’ll see about doing it. Don’t take that as a promise though.” Matt told his girlfriend as she played with Foggy’s long hair, and he used his cane to help him stay on the walkway.

 

 **~oOo~**  

 

    Christmas had come round again. Matt and Foggy had graduated and had started working at Landman and Zach as interns, Abigail had started at college again for an art course which she was loving, and she was loving being the person she wanted to be, not the one she was forced to be.

    True to their word, Matt, Foggy and Abigail went to get tattoos. When she’d woken up the morning after, she was covered in paint, and had some weird green painting in front of her. She went and refined the abomination of a painting, and ended up with a final design. They’d been tattooed right after the graduation ceremony, almost as soon as Matt and Foggy had been handed their diplomas. Abigail had hers tattooed on her left wrist, while the boys had theirs done on their shoulders.

    This Christmas would be the second one that Abigail had spent with the Nelson’s. She’d also spent two Thanksgivings with them as well. Last year, they’d taken her in like one of their own, and it had been the best Christmas she’d ever had. They might not have a lot of money, but they had a big heart, and lots of love to go around.

    She’d loved joking around with Foggy’s siblings, helping his parents, and playing with the kids who’d been opening their presents. Abigail had also gone to church with Matt, and met Father Lantom after Mass. He seemed to know who she really was, but he never said anything. Just shook her hand and told her that everything was going to be fine.

    The first anniversary of her ‘death’ had been fun. There’s been pictures of Tony leaving flowers on her grave appearing in the magazines, but Howard was a no show, not that she was surprised by that fact. But he got away with it, just by saying that he couldn’t face going to her grave; sniffling in all the right places, and even had tears roll down his face.

    However, his fake crying, and the publics sympathy, made for some ‘emotional’ artwork, and her teacher was very impressed with the sketchbook she’d handed in as part of her portfolio, commenting on her choice of colours, and proudly displaying the book and her final piece of the year in the gallery for other people to see.

    Matt and Foggy had been keeping secrets, but Abigail wasn’t too worried. They’d just started a new job, in an office, with other lawyers, working cases. It was a lot to get used to, with the hours and working weekends. And Abigail had been really busy with her course, so she didn’t really notice anyway.

    They’d gone to Mass again and made it back to the Nelson’s before anybody else was awake. Matt had talked more to Father Lantom, while Abigail had wished some of the other people there a Merry Christmas as they walked past her. Some nice old lady had commented on how much she was reminded of her granddaughter when looking at the young brunette. She just smiled at the statement.

    When Mrs. Nelson had woken up, Abigail helped with preparing the food before everybody else descended into the room for presents and food. She spent some of the time dancing around while doing some of the tasks that needed to be completed before everything was ready.

    “What has you in such a good mood?” Abigail almost screamed when Foggy’s voice came from behind her; his hair sticking up in all directions. She could hear Matt laughing in the background, as she put a hand on her chest and took a couple deep breaths.

    “Ass.” She muttered under her breath before she spoke up, “And am I not allowed to be happy for no reason? I’m surrounded by people I love and who love me in return. What’s not to be happy about?”

    “Nothing.” Foggy held up his hands in surrender.

    Dinner was a lively affair. When you have as much family as Foggy does, Christmas is never going to be quiet, but at least it meant that it was never going to be boring, not when somebody tried to start a food fight. Matt got more nervous as the day went on, but he didn’t say anything.

    As the night drew to a close, nearly everybody went up to bed. Matt and Abigail were sat on the couch watching movies with Foggy, and eating the left over food that was on the table. It was finally quiet, which is just what they needed at the end of a busy day. Some time to just relax.

    “Abby, I have something else for you. Just wait here, and I’ll go get it.” Matt said, placing her between the dining room and the living room, before going off to Foggy’s room. And Abigail just stood there, waiting for him to come back, and when he did, he came to stand in front of her.

    “You know, you didn’t have to get me anything else.”

    “But I wanted to.” He told her, making sure she was in the right place for his plan, “Now, you know I’m not very good with words, especially when it comes to you, so here goes.” And then he got down on one knee, right under the mistletoe that he made Foggy put up earlier in the day, “Abigail Sommers… Will you marry me?”

    She stood there in shock for a couple seconds, her hands at her mouth and tears in her eyes as she admired the ring. While it was intricate, it was also simple, and Abigail loved it. She didn’t need much time to think of her answer.

    “Yes." She whispered, and Matt put it on her finger.

 


End file.
